BBC : Pakistan bomb kills elite troops

Pakistan bomb kills elite troops

September 13, 2007

At least 15 soldiers have been killed in a suspected suicide bombing at an army base south of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Most of the victims were officers from an elite counter-terrorism force, the Special Services Group, a military spokesman said.

Violence has soared in Pakistan since troops ousted radical Islamists from Islamabad's Red Mosque in July.

Troops based at the barracks were part of the raid against the mosque.

Chief military spokesman Gen Waheed Arshad said 11 soldiers were wounded in the blast, six seriously.

He could not confirm whether any of the victims were involved in the Red Mosque raid.

"The commandos were taking dinner in their mess at Tarbela town when a suspected suicide bomber blew himself up at its gate," a security official told Agence France Presse news agency.

Last week twin suicide bombings killed several intelligence officers in the main garrison town of Rawalpindi.

The BBC's Barbara Plett in Islamabad says this latest attack suggests that militants are no longer targeting simply the army but the army's elite officer corps.

Border fighting

Earlier there was heavy fighting between Pakistani troops and pro-Taleban militants near the Afghan border which left dozens dead, both sides say.

The army says it has killed up to 70 militants. The rebels say twice that number of troops are dead. Neither claim can be independently verified.

The latest fighting coincides with a visit to Pakistan by the American deputy secretary of state, John Negroponte.

The United States is pressing Pakistan to take stronger action against Taleban and al-Qaeda militants operating from its border areas.

In talks with Mr Negroponte, President Musharraf said Pakistan's commitment to fighting the militants should never be doubted.